You know what might be very cool too? What about "Just in Time Research"? I mean, remember HomeWorld where we couldn't get the corvette til a certain time in the game? What i mean is, right now, i build up in a close circle around my homeworld, i max out the logistic slots, try to unlock the planets and the first line of frigates, make a cap to guard things and a small fleet of available frigates that dont take research, like the disciple and scout and colony, unlock the siege and the purge antifighter, then go to the next small closest planet, overrun the militia and take the planet, build up my logistic slots again, until i have most of my research done, i can spend hours in this all the while fighting off pirates and tec or vasari and getting a larger and larger fleet, unlocking the research trees as i go. And finally when all research is done, i max out my fleet and then run across the system decimating and getting decimated in turn, haha. The last rush and the opponents are of course way more powerful by then and it makes for a hard road, but more fun too.
What might be cool, is say, have all the first line frigates in the first page available with no research, maybe average out the damage between all of them on that page so no one is too little help, and no one is overpowered. But say, the next page, the cruisers can't become available until i take an opponents world, not the militia. That unlocks the second page of planet upgrades, the second page of available ships (cruisers) and perhaps even caps. Say only the first two caps are available for what we might call the "opening" part of the game.
Then as we progress, the cruisers, their abilities, and the higher level caps (lets say the deadlier abilities and longer range weapons and more powerful weapons are then available?
Does this sound cool to anyone but me? I mean, i dont want to turn Sins into HomeWorld, but there was a sense in HW when i was building a fleet, researching the next level of engines or weapons, or higher grade ore extractors that kept me doing two or three things at once. The variety and the interest of seeming to "control" the bridge, ordering squadrons and research labs, and fielding ore-extractors to make sure i had enough raw material to make what i was trying to make all made it very very involved, and interesting.
Don't get me wrong, i love Sins, its just the extractors are placed and run no matter what, and they never run out either, and the research is a anytime kind of thing, and i can see the whole tree, not stumble upon a thing i didnt remember was there, or if we had a randomized research tree? Haha, then i'd never know what i would find, and that could be you know, frustrating like crazy if im losing and fighting and trying to find a way to fend off the bad guys. But way cool too, to you know, have a research panel slide back and reveal a heavy shield generator that i didnt expect and that saves my smoking and ravaged and almost decimated trickle of a fleet, and fight back with one high end cruiser, patch up my remaining capital and then find a weapons upgrade on the beam cannon and start wasting the bad guys.
Pulled out a save, when i thought it was all over kind of thing, that could be very very exhilerating!!!!
You know? Find a cool weapon upgrade or an engine that i can change out to make my ship faster, or quieter, or phase jump from anywhere in the well, haha, just a crazy thought there. But i would love Sins to have that kind of interaction, that kind of "I'm standing on the bridge running things" instead of having everything done for me. I'm not saying total micro-management, but im saying it could be layered differently, and "Just in Time Research" and Abilities on some timed activation, rather than level of the ship, say, third level of one ability leads to the first level of the next, that kind of thing, and extractors that have set limits, and ship availability bound to some in-game event would make it way more interactive, and for me, a lot more fun. Just my opinion though, okie?
-Teal
